You may have heard about Stevie Wonder’s plan to boycott Florida, in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict. Now, thousands more are demanding changes to laws before they’ll visit the state.
Tourism and conventions are big business for Orlando with 55 million visitors in 2011. This week the NAACP is holding its convention, with calls for justice for Trayvon Martin, across the street from a convention for one of the nation’s largest tourism trade associations.
“Orlando is one of those special markets that is a combination of great leisure product, and one of the finest convention centers in the U.S,” said Michael Gehrisch, CEO of Destination Marketing Association International.
Earlier this week, a petition on moveon.org began encouraging people to boycott Florida tourism until the Stand Your Ground law is overturned, saying "the state is not a safe place to vacation."
Though discussed, the Stand Your Ground law ended up not being used as a defense in the George Zimmerman trial.
One Florida tourism marketer said discussions about the boycott have been limited.
“Some of the stuff has just started, so I think it’s something as an industry you listen to, and see what you can do to react to it, at some point,” Visit Pensacola's Steve Hayes said.
“I don’t think that a boycott is a solution," one woman leaving the NAACP convention said. "I think a more peaceful way of doing it is getting signatures and meeting with the sheriff or whoever governs Florida.”
The CEO of Visit Orlando said it was too early to tell what impact it will have and didn’t want to speculate.
But Destination Marketing's CEO said he can't see it stopping him from bringing his convention back to Orlando.
“Sometimes boycotts come up, but we think the best way to resolve differences is to meet new people and travel, not to try to preclude people from travelling from one destination to another” Gehrisch said.
Wednesday afternoon there were just over 8,700 signatures for the boycott.